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384 BCE
Aristotle
Proved that Earth is spherical. He said that the sun, moon, planets, and stars travel in separate spheres. He believed that earth is at the center of the universe - Geocentric. -
190 BCE
Hipparchus
Compiled the first star catalog. First to come up with equinoxes. He calculated the distance between the Earth and Moon. -
165 BCE
Ptolemy
Wrote Almagest a set of astronomy manuals, which catalogues the stars and eclipses the movement of the sun and moon. He made the Geocentric theory or the ptolemaic model, which is about the earth being in the center of the universe. -
1473
Copernicus
He believed that the sun was the center of the universe. It was called the Heliocentric model. He is also the founder of the Scientific Method. -
1546
Tycho Brahe
He is known for accurate, and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations -
1570
Hans Lippershey
Was a lens maker from Germany. He invented the telescope. Even though he didn't invent the first telescope, he did patent the first three time magnified telescope. -
1571
Johannes Kepler
Discovered that orbits are not circles they are ovals (elliptical.) -
Refracting Telescope
A telescope that uses a converging lense to collect light invented by Hans Lippershey. -
Giovanni Cassini
He discovered the division of the rings of Saturn, that Saturn had moons, and the rotation periods of Mars and Jupiter. -
Galileo
He is from Italy. His discoveries are with one of the first telescopes. He is the first to discover sunspots. He discovered Jupiter’s moons Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. -
Sir Isaac Newton
Further developed the works of Copernicus and Kepler using math. Invented reflecting telescope 1688. 3 laws of motion. -
Reflecting Telescope
A telescope that used reflecting and that was invented by Isaac Newton -
William Herschel
Discovered the planet Uranus and its moons. He also discovered 2 more of Saturn’s moons. Believed that water was on Mars. He deduced infrared radiation. -
Percival Lowell
Discovered Pluto and studied “Canalis” on Mars. Built Lowell observatory to study mars. -
Ejnar Hertzsprung
One of the inventors of the HR diagram. Hertzsprung_Russel diagram shows correlation between magnitude and spectral type of star. -
Albert Einstein
Theory of Relativity and aggravation. -
Edwin Hubble
Discovered the universe was expanding. Hubble’s Law. -
Karl Jansky
Discovered radio waves emanating from the Milky Way. He is one of the founding figures for radio astronomy -
Sputnik
Russia sent out first satellite. This changed America’s education to focus on mainly math and science. Because they beat us to it, we have NASA. -
Yuri Gagarin
First human to orbit Earth. -
John Glenn
First US human to orbit Earth. 3x -
Neil Armstrong
First human to walk on the moon. -
Apollo Missions
A program that was designed to land humans on the earth and bring them back safely. Six missions achieved this goal, 7 and 9 were testing things, 8 and 10 orbited the moon and tested things, and 13 did not land due to malfunction. -
First Space Shuttle Flight
Space Shuttle Columbia was the first reusable spacecraft. Launch like a rocket and land like a plane. -
Mars Pathfinder Expedition
First ever robotic rover to land on the surface of the red planet. -
Cassini Orbiter
A spacecraft that could take accurate measurements and images in a variety of atmospheric conditions and light spectra. It is named after Jean-Dominique Cassini who discovered the Saturn satellites. -
SpaceX Falcon Heavy
Partially reusable heavy lift launch vehicle that can carry a ton of stuff into space at once.
